


Moonlight Looks Better On You After All

by ItsAutumnHereFriend



Category: Gintama
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Spoilers for Berserk, Spoilers for Gintoki's past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29828724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsAutumnHereFriend/pseuds/ItsAutumnHereFriend
Summary: It’s hard to keep morale when everyone can still feel ghosts of their friends. So they turn to whispers. They call him a monster contained.
Relationships: Sakata Gintoki/Original Character(s), Sakata Gintoki/Original Female Character(s), Sakata Gintoki/Original Male Character(s), Sakata Gintoki/You, gintoki/reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Moonlight Looks Better On You After All

**Author's Note:**

> For someone who doesn't like angst, I write a LOT of it. This is cross-posted on Tumblr.

When campfires glow bright and crackles with the wind, whispers rise louder. Whispers grow hotter than fire. And Gintoki grows cold beside you, underneath its weight. 

Zura winces, an odd downturn to his lips, like he's fighting with something beyond the clamour. Beyond the noises that still call him monster.  _ Monster. Monster, he's a monster. Did you see the way he cut down that amanto?  _

He's one of the few heralded as victory for the war, yet the eyes that follow him warily are the same ones thrown at him when he was still following Shouyou's shadow. He still is. All of you are.

They're waiting for betrayal, you know. Gintoki knows. Zura, Takasugi, Tatsuma. Everyone knows.

Your knee nudges him. When he turns to you, oranges of the fire swallow the light of the moon. It makes him look sickly, sunken.

If he leaned a fraction closer, his nose would be touching yours. But his eyes are as dull as the blood rusted on his blade, and the thought falls away. 

Cocking your head in a silent  _ watch duty? _ He nods. 

Sound falls to a momentary hush as the two of you walk off towards the gates of the camp. Moonlight guides the way and the fire at your backs grow cold. You do not miss the way laughter finally springs up from your receding shadows. It's hushed and quiet, given the circumstances, but it's serene in a way that makes your fingers tighten around the hilt of your sword. 

They have long stopped asking why you keep him company when he's the one supposed to be on watch duty. They have long stopped asking why Zura, Takasugi, and Tatsuma sometimes follow too.

The silence is deafening, laughter trailing off like the slight breeze, until you're both sitting on top of the sloping roof of the gates. 

You reach back, fingers lying on top of his. "The stars are beautiful. No wonder Tatsuma wants to keep them."

Gintoki snorts. "And then sell them. When will his capitalist hunger end? When Berserk finally ends? When Casca finally wakes up?" 

"Casca's already woken up, Gintoki."

"Huh?!" He yelps, fingers tightening around yours. Calloused, but so are yours. "Since when? I can't believe it. Finally, the long awaited reunion for the modern Romeo and Juliet."

You give him a look. 

"Oh. Right. It's Berserk." His voice is monotone, eyes still dead, but the moonlight shines bright now. There's a light to his eyes that might just be moonlight. 

Smiling, you lean onto him slightly. Through these war-torn parts, you drink up the last vestiges of nature not yet trodden down. It was almost enough to forget the taste of ash. To mask the bodies hidden under earth. 

Gintoki's hand makes its way to your thigh pressed against his. Stroking odd patterns against the rough fabric, you know it's more of a comfort for him. 

He's quiet. Quiet and Gintoki do not mesh well together. But he tugs you closer, until you're sitting between his thighs, his arms wrapped loosely around your waist. 

"Someone might see-" but you do little to convince him. 

"They won't say shit." He's right, you know. They won't say anything about the shiroyasha, the monster they think he is, just like how they won't say anything about Tatsuma except his loud laugh, the money he must have. Those four are marked as victory, everything spoken in whispers.

Sighing, you lean back against him. It's unlike him, so out in the open. But he's shivering, hands trembling despite how hard he's gripping your sleeve. Like the shadows are carrying whispers  _ monster, monster, monster. _ You wonder if he hears Shouyou, too. 

A shadow slinks and weaves between trees greener than they are in the towns. You lie your hands on top of his, not quite holding them. You almost flinch at the cold bite from his skin. 

"That old cat is still here." And if your voice becomes breathless under the weight of it all, at knowing what you are seeing now--the valleys, the trees, the homes, the clothing that litter the paths with no one to claim it--will only be swept up like dust. Blink and you'll forget the dust clinging onto it. But the lingering presence of it is still there, not quite right, itching at a memory best left forgotten.

Gintoki huffs. But it sounds more like a barking laugh. "That damned furball? He's too old! Leave the war to the young'uns, as they say." 

Your hands curl into his, holding him properly. He makes a surprised sound, caught in the depths of his throat. "I'd like a cat one day." Tracing the scars left on his knuckles, scars more so than skin. "But a dog would be nice too."

"Bunch'a freeloaders if you ask me." His voice tapers into something soft, and he presses the back of your hand to his lips, chest pressed against your back. "They won't even pay rent," spoken softly against your hand. 

"We'll find ways. Maybe the future will have cats and dogs working for a paycheck."

"As they should be. Don't they know everyone needs to earn their keep? The dead mice they give us are useless. Useless like Lucy! We can't even eat those."

Leaning back, you relax against his hold. Gintoki shifts forward to squish his cheek against yours. Despite there being no campfire, and the frigid air blows against you both, it's warmer here, between the two of you. 

That night, Gintoki doesn't dream of monsters. He dreams of cats and dogs working at cafés in maid costumes. And when he tells you all this, the quirk of his lips surges you forward to kiss him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I'm more active on [Tumblr](https://itsautumnherefriend.tumblr.com/post/178367438596/links) if anyone wanted to come talk! :)  
> (Lucy is Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail. No hate on the anime or the character, she was just the first character I could come up with)


End file.
